You thought Wonga was bad? Meet Easy Finance Club - the payday lender with an APR of 68,300%

Fast cash: Easy Finance Club offers quick cash for those with poor credit records, but at outrageous rates of interest.

If you thought the interest rates charged by Wonga were astronomical, those being charged by a new payday lender are in a different solar system.

Easy Finance Club is charging £65 on loans of £100 taken out over 28 days, which was calculated today at the equivalent of a whopping 68,300 per cent APR.

This is despite Easy Finance's website claiming it has a typical Representative APR of 3,300 per cent.

Incredibly, a loan of £100 over 28 days at its rate of interest would result in a total repayment of £67,187 were it paid back over a year. Though Easy Finance customers are only allowed to take out loans for up to 28 days.

It is not the only discrepancy that can be found on the website. Easy Finance's 'APR Explained' page stating that a £100 loan taken out over 14 days would result in a £124 repayment, yet the calculator on the front page says the total would come to £135.

The APR level at the biggest and best-known payday
lender, Wonga, pales in comparison at 4,217 per cent. A £100 loan taken
out over 28 days with Wonga would rack up an extra charge of £34.64 in
interest and fees.

Easy Finance Club is a 'trading style' - or brand name - of a larger firm called Web Loans Processing Ltd, which uses 'Community Payday' as another brand.

Both firms have come onto the radar of guarantor lender Amigo Loans, which has calculated that the actual APR for both websites, taking into account compound interest, stands at 68,300 per cent for Easy Finance and 38,520 per cent for Community Payday.

A call to the Web Loans Processing's hotline number on its website however takes you through to Toothfairy Finance, another short-term loan provider which charges £9 per week for every £100 borrowed.

Payday lenders have long argued that APR should not be taken as an accurate indicator of the interest paid on their loans as these are taken out over shorter periods, with Easy Finance offering loans of up to £400 for 14, 21 and 28 days.

Responding to Love Money, Web Loans Processing said Community Pay Day and Easy Finance Club are new brands which 'service customers with particularly challenging credit circumstances'.

It said that as many of the costs of issuing a loan are fixed, 'such transaction costs have the effect of distorting the headline percentage when a customer chooses a small loan'.

It added: 'We prices ourselves on making all the costs clear and understandable to help our customers make an informed decision.

'We also regularly remind customers during the loan to make sure they remain in control of their finances and know in advance how much and what to pay.

'CPD and EFC are "Ping Tree" focused and offer customers funding when banks and other payday lenders won't.'

Calculations: Figures provided by Amigo Loans calculating the interest owed on a £100 loan from Easy Finance Club were it taken out over the course of a year.

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